The U.S. News & World Report Best Global Universities 2024, released on 26 October 2023, placed Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) at 100th globally – a jump of 24 places from the 2023 edition – and City University of Hong Kong (CityU) at 120th, up 20 places. Both set new record highs in this ranking. The methodology relies on 13 research performance indicators; research reputation, citation impact and highly cited papers together account for over 60% of the weighting.
Record-breaking leaps by both universities
PolyU rose from 124th to 100th, and CityU from 140th to 120th, marking the largest single-year gains among Hong Kong’s public universities in the 2024 edition. Over the same period, the University of Hong Kong held steady at 55th, The Chinese University of Hong Kong at 53rd and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology at 105th – each moving by no more than five places. In effect, PolyU and CityU achieved the biggest year-on-year jumps within the most densely ranked segment, the mid‑top 150.
On the scoring side, PolyU’s overall score reached 69.1, an increase of 2.4 points, while CityU scored 68.0, up 2.2 points. In the fiercely competitive band between 100 and 150, a gain of more than two points is enough to lift a university by ten to twenty ranks.
Year‑on‑year changes in four core indicators
The table below summarises the movement of four core research metrics for PolyU and CityU between the 2023 and 2024 U.S. News Best Global Universities editions.
| Metric | PolyU 2023 | PolyU 2024 | CityU 2023 | CityU 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Global Research Reputation Rank | 153 | 134 | 168 | 150 |
| Regional Research Reputation Rank | 117 | 96 | 135 | 120 |
| Normalized Citation Impact | 1.2 | 1.3 | 1.1 | 1.2 |
| Highly Cited Papers (Top 1%) | 390 | 542 | 310 | 430 |
Source: U.S. News & World Report Best Global Universities 2023 and 2024
The collective improvement across these four indicators directly drove the two universities’ overall rank jumps. For Normalized Citation Impact, a value of 1.3 means that PolyU papers were cited, on average, 30% more often than the global average for their field – a figure that surpasses the median of many top‑100 institutions in the 2024 table.
Regional research reputation score climbed from 63.4 to 68.2 for PolyU, and from 59.1 to 63.7 for CityU, reflecting a sharper recognition within Asia’s academic community. This regional lift also correlates with the growing scientific bargaining power both universities have built through collaboration networks in the Greater Bay Area.
The driver: explosive growth in research output
The first driver behind the leap is the simultaneous expansion of absolute publication volume and citation impact. According to the University Grants Committee’s (UGC) 2020 Research Assessment Exercise, 83% of PolyU’s research outputs were rated “world leading” or “internationally excellent”; for CityU the proportion was 78%. In engineering, materials science and computer science in particular, the concentration of top‑rated work now matches that of leading global polytechnic‑style institutions.
In the 2022–23 academic year, PolyU won 148 General Research Fund (GRF) grants from the Hong Kong Research Grants Council (RGC), a rise of almost 40% over five years earlier. CityU secured 132 grants over the same period, an increase of 35%. Government funding translated directly into accelerated production of high‑impact papers: PolyU published around 4,200 SCI/SSCI papers in 2023, and CityU about 3,800 – both more than 50% up on their 2020 output.
The pipeline of highly cited research expanded as well. In the 2024 U.S. News ranking, PolyU recorded 542 highly cited papers (top 1%), compared with 390 two years earlier; CityU grew from 310 to 430. At the very top end, papers in the top 0.1% by citations – a tiny cohort that typically represents breakthrough findings – numbered 62 at PolyU and 41 at CityU.
A focused discipline strategy also contributed significantly. PolyU’s hospitality and tourism management, civil engineering, and architecture and the built environment have long ranked inside the global top 20 in the QS World University Rankings by Subject. CityU has built a distinct profile through materials science, nanotechnology and communication studies. In the U.S. News 2024 subject rankings, PolyU’s engineering placed 12th globally, while CityU’s share of highly cited papers in materials science ranked in the global top 0.5%. This concentration concentrates citation networks in high‑impact sub‑fields, lifting the whole institution’s Normalized Citation Impact score.
International citation networks and Highly Cited Researchers
Another booster of citation impact is the share of internationally co‑authored papers. According to university statistics compiled by the Education Bureau (EDB), PolyU’s international co‑authorship rate reached 68% in 2022–23, and CityU’s 65%, both above the average of 62% for Hong Kong’s eight public universities. Collaborative partners include MIT, Cambridge and Tsinghua University; papers arising from such partnerships tend to attract more cross‑border citations.
The number of Highly Cited Researchers grew in parallel. Clarivate’s 2023 list of Highly Cited Researchers features 11 PolyU researchers (measured by headcount) and 9 from CityU, representing increases of 5 and 4 respectively since 2021. These researchers cluster in materials science, electronic engineering and data science, and nearly all of their papers published over the preceding five years rank in the top 1% globally by citations – directly feeding the “highly cited papers” indicator for their universities.
Citations are the currency of global rankings. CityU’s total citation count in the 2024 edition reached 249,000, a jump of more than 26% from 197,000 in 2023; PolyU rose from 276,000 to 341,000. Year‑on‑year growth exceeding 20% pushed both universities at least 30 places higher on the “total citations” metric.
What this signals for international students
Ranking improvements feed directly into the choices of the non‑local student market. According to public statistics from the Hong Kong Immigration Department (ImmD), around 12,000 visa applications were approved under the “Immigration Arrangements for Non‑local Graduates” (IANG) in 2023, up nearly 50% from the pre‑pandemic 2019 baseline. In parallel, PolyU’s non‑local taught‑postgraduate applications rose 37% year‑on‑year for the 2023–24 intake, and CityU’s Mainland applicant volume increased 42%, both buoyed by immediate ranking news.
For mainland Chinese applicants, a U.S. News global rank often serves as a hard filter in CV screening. PolyU’s entry into the global top 100 directly strengthens its standing when enterprises and public‑sector bodies use QS/THE/U.S. News top‑100 lists as a qualification threshold. For graduates returning from overseas, the rapid rise of PolyU and CityU also makes the two universities more recognisable in North American and Asia‑Pacific job markets.
The ranking surge is reinforced by talent‑policy allocation. In 2023, the Chief Executive’s policy unit and the Education Bureau named PolyU and CityU as joint operators of several key laboratories and expanded the scope of research tuition waivers for PhD students at both institutions. Research funding and talent supply are now forming a positive loop, putting further upward pressure on international rank.
FAQ
1. Does the U.S. News global ranking have a concrete impact on staying to work in Hong Kong?
In the talent‑introduction catalogues of multiple mainland cities and the graduate‑recruitment schemes of large Hong Kong employers, a degree from a global top‑100 university is a hard sifting criterion. With PolyU inside the top 100, its graduates automatically qualify for more initial screening rounds at public‑sector organisations and multinationals. If CityU maintains its trajectory, it may break into the top 100 within two to three years – a positive signal for those planning longer research‑degree programmes.
2. Do these leaps mean PolyU and CityU have surpassed HKU and CUHK?
The two ranking systems have different emphases. U.S. News leans very heavily on research output and citations, while HKU and CUHK still hold long‑accumulated advantages in academic reputation and employer reputation. PolyU and CityU are currently “high‑momentum challengers”: their research influence in engineering and technology should not be underestimated, but closing the overall reputation gap will take longer.
3. Which disciplines contributed most to the ranking push?
Engineering, materials science, computer science and chemistry are the fields where the two universities rank highest in the U.S. News subject edition. PolyU’s density of highly cited papers is most pronounced in civil engineering and mechanical engineering; CityU’s in nanotechnology and energy materials. These disciplines directly lifted Normalized Citation Impact.
4. How do Normalized Citation Impact and highly cited paper counts feed into the overall rank?
These two indicators together carry a weight of 22.5%. Normalized Citation Impact prevents size‑related bias, while highly cited papers reward direction‑setting research. PolyU’s global positions on these two metrics rose by 19 and 22 places respectively, accounting for nearly 60% of its total score jump.
5. Will the improved ranking make IANG visas easier for non‑local graduates?
IANG approval is based on a degree qualification, not a ranking. However, entering the top 100 indirectly prompts more employers to extend job offers to PolyU and CityU graduates, thereby reducing the difficulty of securing employment that meets visa requirements. ImmD statistics show the IANG approval rate has long stayed above 90%; the key condition is a confirmed job offer, not the university’s rank.
6. How are the two universities’ ranks likely to evolve in the coming years?
Whether they can sustain rapid rises depends on the volume of top‑1% highly cited papers retained in the window and the deployment of emerging disciplines. If both can maintain an annual output of more than 500 highly cited papers (top 1%) through 2024–2026 while expanding transnational collaboration with the US and Europe, a position inside the global top 90 is within reach. Breaking into the top 80, however, would mean competing on reputation against a set of North American flagship state universities, which typically takes longer.
The ranking surge illuminates a fast‑moving reshuffle in the second tier of Hong Kong’s public universities. PolyU and CityU have used hard metrics of publication and citation to recast their academic positions, and the job market, non‑local application volume and talent policy are now injecting real‑world consequences into those numbers. For students who see Hong Kong as a launchpad into the Asia‑Pacific or mainland‑China job market, this shift means two more weight‑stable options have been added to their application shortlist.